Former Siegel High band director sues school system

MURFREESBORO — A former Siegel High School band director was forced to resign in 2014 after Rutherford County Schools did not work around his medical condition, he charges in a federal lawsuit filed against the school system.

The school district, in response, said it attempted to give Randy Rhody all the accommodations he needed and that he mentioned his medical condition only after he was confronted for a pattern of absenteeism.

Rhody, who had served as the Siegel band director since the school opened in 2003, accused the Rutherford County Board of Education of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act in a lawsuit filed in federal court on Nov. 3.

He asked for a jury trial that would award him an unspecified amount of “compensatory damages, back pay, and front pay against the defendant.”

A pretrial conference is set for March 2017, and a jury trial has been scheduled for April 2017, according to a court order.

Rutherford County Schools spokesman James Evans declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing the pending litigation.

Andy Allman, the Hendersonville attorney representing Rhody, did not respond to multiple requests for an interview.

In his complaint, Rhody accused Rutherford County Schools Director Don Odom of intentionally trying to catch him engaged in wrongdoing after Odom received a parental complaint.

Rhody said he was called to a meeting at the Rutherford County Schools central office and was asked a range of questions by Odom, including whether he had been late to or missed faculty meetings.

With some apprehension, Rhody admitted he had been diagnosed with cancer and underwent surgery that “created a medical condition causing him to go to the bathroom at unpredictable times,” the lawsuit stated.

Rhody was denied any accommodation for this condition, he said in the suit.

“Odom immediately instructed (Rhody’s) principal (at the time), Jason Bridgeman, to write Plaintiff up for insubordination if he was ever late to a meeting, left a meeting early or left his classroom for any reason whatsoever, even if (he) had another teacher wait while he was gone,” the lawsuit stated.

The school system denied both charges in its own filing about the case, according to a case management order filed by U.S. Magistrate Judge John Bryant.

“Rhody was advised he could be accommodated and that they should develop a plan to address this issue which would include some type of oversight in his classroom when he was out,” according to the court order.

The meeting that led to the admission of a medical issue came after the school system received a complaint from a parent about Rhody’s language used in class and how a female student was treated by him, according to the order.

“After some investigation, (Rutherford County Schools) discovered that not only was this an issue, but that the Plaintiff was routinely not present in the classroom at various times and sometimes for days without calling in sick or making appropriate arrangements,” according to the county's response to the suit. “Among other things, he had taken a cruise (which apparently happens annually) without using sick leave.”

The school system said Rhody retired on his own and without coercion from the school system, the order stated.

During his tenure as Siegel band director, the Murfreesboro marching band won the Contest of Champions marching band competition at Middle Tennessee State University for three straight years between 2009 and 2011. The band also marched in New York City in 2008 as part of the city's annual St. Patrick's Day parade.